Living a life...

 You may have noticed that my blogging is more sporadic these days, not as regular as it once was. It's been interesting, this past year or so, to discover that many changes which were once just ideas invited into my mind to ponder, are now becoming tangible, practiced habits...so living this rather ordinary yet satisfying life, much more than reading about it, or writing about it, is becoming my normal. 

In fact, I don't walk around with my camera just an arm's length away any more either. There are moments every single day where I would like to capture a scene, to share it with you - but then I soon move on from that moment to another, and find my body and mind absorbed in a new task. 

The burn...

About ten days ago I accidentally poured boiling water over my left hand, a distracted painful mistake which caused a different kind of slower life as my hand needed to rest and heal. Everything I did was carefully considered, my left hand protected, and with each passing day thoughts of 'living' an even slower life by choice (rather than injury) continued to grow in my mind. 

I pottered around the garden, watering things, tending to the roses and vegetables, before sitting in my chair under the large Poinciana tree with a book and a cuppa, the birdsongs above me becoming a chorus to serenade my quiet hour.

Meals were simpler, and I was grateful for all those which I'd made up and frozen in the weeks and months earlier. One night my dear husband picked up some Chinese take-out for a change, but overall we have managed on what was already prepared, or things I could make without overusing my injured hand. 

Sewing...

Two days after the accident I returned to (gently) hand stitching a project I'd begun the week before. How wonderful that my right hand was not the burned one. 

The Wildflowers quilt top (wall quilt) had been patiently waiting to be sandwiched and hand quilted, and finally a few days ago I got to work preparing it.

Normally I use spray baste and a few basting pins, but the can was empty so I used a lot more pins this time. 

I'm hand quilting with DMC Perle 12 thread. The centre and outer border are crosshatched, whilst I've just quilted in the ditch around the applique blocks. 

Later today I'll be able to complete quilting the outer border, and tonight I may sew down the binding. It's the first day of winter on Thursday and I'd like to hang it in our living room then as this was the main purpose behind choosing such a wintery palette.

Reading...

I've done more reading than usual lately, especially the informative kind. I enjoy learning more about gardening, homemaking, natural remedies, sour dough, baking, sewing techniques, and extra Bible study...but now that my hand is healing nicely (the thumb and ring finger still have a little ways to go) it's time to put in to practice what I've learned, rather than read about or 'watching' others doing it on Youtube. 

These are two books I bought recently at KMart, and I have to say they are great for teaching more about the things which matter to me around home- Costa's World (an Aussie gardener who writes about everything connected with home gardens) and The Wellness Cabinet. 

The other book is one that Blossom surprised me with from the library, a novel I'd mentioned to her might be a nice historical read - though I rarely read fiction anymore, unless it's listening to an Agatha Christie audio book while I cook or clean in the kitchen. All will be enjoyed during my cuppa time in the garden.

The cold...

The weather here cooled suddenly and we found ourselves wrapped in blankets one morning during our Bible study, our socks and slippers no longer enough to keep warm. Of course this seems funny to my husband because I still swim my laps in our pool at 6am each day, and the water is freezing...then I come inside and say "I'm so cold". ;-)

Anyhow, I brought out our few winter items yesterday and washed them all. I also added a second quilt to the bed, bought a nice soft mattress topper, and cooked a nourishing beef and vegetable stew for dinner. The temperature this morning was 11c (52f) and we're aiming for a high of 25c (77f) today. Might be time to buy some long sleeve tops as my two cardigans are quite thin. I also need closed in shoes as I only have sandals. Crazy stuff when you live in the hot humid tropics and then it gets cold. Ha ha! But I do hope we get a nice cool winter...it's good for the body and soul after an eight month summer. 

During those first two days after the accident, I decided to research things which were listed in a "discover more about" notebook. Keeping my mind off the pain and immobilising the two fingers which had taken the brunt of the burn (thank the Lord we have more than twenty aloe vera plants in the garden as it was wonderful for soothing and healing) meant being distracting with things that grabbed my interest. 

I've got Emmer flour to use in breadmaking and wondered how it would go as a sour-dough starter, and how well it would bake in a sour dough loaf, as every grain responds differently when used for bread. Anyhow, I came across two very interesting bakers and I learned a lot.

Firstly, there's this wonderful woman in Germany, named Eva, who bakes SO many different types of bread that you will never run out of ideas. She does sour doughs, gluten free, all grains, flour free...honestly, she's marvellous. Her instructions are very easy to follow and are shown simply. There are subtitles in other languages if you don't speak German - thankfully. :-)

This is her way of creating a sour dough starter and I've decided to give it a go as I have those same Weck jars and prefer this method to the ones where you end up with a large jar of starter that always needs to be discarded or used in discard recipes. 

As the weather here is cold (we think it's cold, though you may not) my starter may take a bit of time to ferment well before I can use it...

....but that's fine as after a month or so of pondering and praying, I decided to buy a new breadmaker, one that can be used for sour dough, cake baking, and many other things. It should arrive around the time my sourdough starter is ready to be used. 

I chose this particular Panasonic breadmaker after first reading about it in Chloe's post on Annabel's blog (here) and then researching many reviews. What's wonderful is that Chloe has patiently tried and tested the best way to bake her sourdough loaves in this particular machine with constant success, and I'm so grateful she shared her method with Annabel's readers because it's like being given the answer without having to work out the problem. 

The other bread baker I discovered is Elly from my own state, Queensland, and she was using the Emmer flour I was researching for her loaf of sourdough. Through her I discovered that Emmer grain is actually grown here in our state as well! She also uses the same Mockmill grain mill as I do, but purchased the Emmer already ground. If you don't know about Emmer it is one of the ancient wheat grains which has never been altered. The video below was the one I watched...

So that's what has been happening here, apart from -

Blossom's joyous 29th birthday last Friday and the baking of a dozen cinnamon scrolls because they are her preferred birthday sweet each year; a 750 km round-trip drive to Cairns on Sunday with hubby, where we escaped garden chores for a whole day and reminded ourselves how much we love long road trips with stunning scenery; and hubby's continued excellent healing of the broken bone in his foot. 

In closing...

This morning I read Grandma Donna's latest blog post, always they lift my spirits and draw my heart ever closer to the simpler, humbler life. What surprised me was how eloquently she described exactly the thoughts of my own mind these past couple of weeks...

"I knew that I was feeling pressures from electronics but did not realize how consuming electronics have become and how they have slowed down getting things done in my home and robbed me of mental clarity.

I feel that the internet has cause many of us to be addicted and that is what the electronic industry wants us to be.  We need to relearn how to be present. 

When we do find something of interest on the internet, read it like a book when there is time "after" chores and meals are done.  

Stepping away from the computer and phone is like getting off of a drug and then it feels like going back home to a much better time.

Making a batter feels right and purposeful.  It is doing instead of learning to do and the best way to learn is by doing."

Let me encourage you to visit her blog and read THIS post yourself...there's wisdom there to ponder.

I'll be back with the next Virtuous Wife block on Thursday for you to download, and will share some thoughts about it then as well. Having extra time to sit and study the Word these past couple of weeks is like topping up the fertiliser on my tomato plants. They're doing wonderfully in the prepared soil, but every so often they need a bit of extra fertiliser so they stay strong and healthy, and stand up against some of the bugs which will want to attack as they bear fruit.

We are like that tomato plant. For those of us who love the Lord, study His Word, pray, choose to walk in His ways and turn from worldly influences - there will come seasons when we must immerse ourselves even deeper in our Bible study, examining our heart/choices/attitudes/actions/relationships, so God can uproot those worldly weeds which hinder our spiritual growth and nourish us with the life-giving watering of the Word instead.

God bless you dear ones, 

hugs,

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This week, a book study and a finish...

 This was a warmer week than we've had of late, perfect days of winter sunshine with temperatures that are what we experience in a 'normal' tropical winter - nights around 15c and days of 26c (60f - 79f).

I love the cooler months because it's easy to make sourdough. In our very hot and humid mid-spring to mid-autumn weather the yeasts in the sour dough starter simply die. So for now, I'm definitely enjoying a few months of real home-baked sour dough!

I usually make the sour dough loaves from white unbleached flour on the weekends when hubby is home...

...and gather fresh greens from the garden, make some quick pickled onions, boil some eggs, and bring it all together for a lovely open sandwich lunch eaten out in the garden.

On weekdays I grind my own grain for flour, and bake a regular loaf of bread with added flax seeds and sunflower kernels.

Since buying the grain mill a few months ago, I have noticed a big change in our digestive issues. No longer do we suffer from IBS, because our bodies are thriving on bread made from freshly ground whole grains. It's been such a game changer in our home and we praise God for discovering a better way to make bread.

It's definitely getting harder to source the whole wheat grains, but I have found a place that sells local grain from the Atherton Tablelands (about 3 hours north of us) and we're using that now.

On Tuesday I had Cully May and Rafaella for the day. The girls wanted to grow some flowers in their own back yard so we began our morning browsing the seedlings at Bunnings. They chose the Strawberry Blonde Marigolds and a ceramic pot each. They only have a small backyard in a rental home so all plants must be in pots.

The girls took turns filling their pots, then added the marigolds, and after I carried the heavy pots out into the sunshine they watered them (along with my own plants) ready to take home later that day.

They had also chosen a miniature rose and a green ceramic pot for mummy (Blossom) so I helped pot it for them as even though they wore garden gloves the little thorns made the girls hesitant to do it alone. 

My granddaughters LOVE fresh cucumbers, so I grow a lot of them! They chose one each to cut from the vine, to serve with lunch...

Lunchtime.

I had made pizza dough early in the morning after hubby left for work, so when lunchtime rolled around the girls were excited to roll out their own pizza bases and top them. 

Children add a lot of excitement to simple meal making, don't you think? If you ever get bored with cooking, invite a child or two to help. My girls have the best time creating on the kitchen benchtop.

Once baked, I chopped some cucumber and placed them beside the hot pizzas. Both girls devoured the cucumbers first, and then enjoyed the 'fruit of their labour' - the pizzas.

Our homeschool nature and cooking lessons for the day were done, and now it was time for language arts, with a touch of music. Blossom teaches this subject using a curriculum I had used with her and older brother during our own homeschooling years. 

The book for this lesson was Lentil, and what a wonderful book it was! The boy in the book is named Lentil and he has the worst singing voice, but his harmonica skills save the day during a huge welcome home parade for the town's leading citizen.

 I bought two harmonicas at the beginning of the year knowing at some point we'd be using this story as a launch pad for many lessons. The girls asked me to film them playing their harmonicas, so I did, and if you'd like to watch (and listen) for 15 seconds just click on the YouTube video below...

Our next lesson was arithmetic and we focused on addition using a floor puzzle I'd found at the op shop recently. To finish the day I went through some spelling with Cully May while Rafaella played nearby. 

This Nana was pretty tired after her wonderful day with the children so after packing up and dropping the girls back home with their flower pots and Blossom's rose, I sat and finished my second crochet blanket this winter (using the Cosy Stripe pattern from Attic 24)

I have since given it to Charlie, who loves it, and now all three of Blossom's children have their own crochet blankets from Nana. 

Naturally with a bit of winter still remaining I went hunting through the remainder of my yarn stash and began a new blanket, using the Sweet Pea pattern from Attic 24 (I had previously made this blanket for Rafaella)...

....but then decided I did not like the pattern as much as the Hydrangea pattern I'd used for Cully May's blanket earlier this winter. So I unravelled it, and started over to make another Hydrangea Stripe blanket (also by Attic 24).

The same colours will be used in this new blanket as in the one I unravelled, just in different order. I realised how much I liked beginning a blanket in green, and the Pistachio DK yarn is one of my favourite colours. The second colour is Boysenberry, another favourite. 

What have you done this week? 

When I asked you to share about your day a couple of weeks ago, you each inspired me so much! Those glimpses into your life, as I suppose the glimpses into mine, create for us a virtual kitchen table where we learn about each other. I sat with my cuppa and read all your comments, twice! I feel very privileged that you would take the time to share a peek into your life with me and those many thousands who read each blog post. 

In this Covid era, when many of us don't go out unless we need to, there's a chance that lonely days will come along every now and then. I know this because I have felt it myself at times (even though I'm an introvert who happily stays home), so for those of you who are naturally more social than I it must be very difficult to be bound to home day after day when you want to step out with friends. 

This is why I ask "how's your day?" I genuinely wonder how you are managing, what you're doing around home or in the garden, whether you're well or in need of prayer, what simple things are bringing you joy?

NEXT WEEK...

I shall begin the book study of Emilie Barnes "Simple Secrets to a Beautiful Home" next week, and hope you'll enjoy the journey. There's no need to buy the book (unless you want it) as I'll be focusing on the theme of each chapter and how it can inspire us today within our homes. 

I'll also have a free pattern to share with you, something which ties in to chapter one and which you can stitch as you ponder what we're studying. I pray it blesses you. 

May the Lord surround you with His presence in the days ahead and draw you hearts to all that is good, holy, kind, and joyful. 

bless you heaps,

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Growing, baking, covid and a new appliance...

 Every day has its own rhythm, but on the weekend I can take things a little slower, though some things stay the same.

I always water the garden just after dawn, check the roses for bugs, trim away dead branches or leaves, fertilise certain plants if they're due...

...and do a little bit of weeding, because the weeds are endless and aggressive. Sigh. 

As it was overcast yesterday morning I took the opportunity to pull my spring onions (green onions/scallions) from their garden beds and pots where they have been growing for almost three years. As these are my most prolific vegetable crop I had them scattered wherever there's a space in the raised beds, however, we're at mid-summer in the tropics and it's time to tidy everything up, rest a few beds, and prepare them for our mid-autumn planting. 

I decided to divide the plants between three pots and no longer have them in garden beds, as being alliums they aren't always good growing companions for other veggies. 

First I pull them up, then I cut the bottom section off, about three inches from the roots. With fresh soil in the assorted pots I've allocated for spring onions, I planted the ends as these will sprout new growth again within 24 hours.

Three pots and twenty six spring onions later, I washed the tops for kitchen use in the coming week or two.

Some of them I chopped finely and stored in a glass container inside the fridge for salads and garnishes. The remainder were sealed in a vacuum seal bag an hour or so later, and stored in the vegetable crisper where they'll be fine for a month or more. By then the rooted stems I planted in pots yesterday will be full grown again and I'll just cut the tops off as I need them, same as I've been doing for three years. (actually they had already grown an inch by this morning!)

I also picked some fresh lemon balm from the huge amount I'd pruned to use in herbal tea this week. 

After two hours in the garden I was dripping in perspiration because the sun was now quite fierce and the clouds had departed, so into the pool for a swim before heading inside to the air conditioning and a refreshing morning tea.

Banana and Raisin Loaf, with sparkling soda water to which I'd added a tiny bit of ginger cordial...

We always have loads of bananas as my husband eats one or two every day, but in this heat they ripen very quickly and I do not like ripe bananas, so this loaf is a great way to use them up and if stored in the fridge it lasts a week. We like it spread with butter, especially when it's more than a couple of days old and has begun to dry out. 

But let's go back a few days...

On Thursday I made that no-knead bread I told you about in my previous post, and I promise you I will make it again!

I'll share the video below. Connie has VERY easy instructions so let me encourage you to give it a try.

Also Thursday...a purchase arrived, one I have had on my wish list for over a year!  An Instant Pot.

After doing a test run with pressure cooking water so that I could acquaint myself with how it works, on Friday night I made something completely different for us - Chicken Taco Soup. I know this sort of meal is pretty common to Americans, but it's not common in Australia. Anyhow, there's a few homemakers I like to watch on YouTube during my morning or afternoon tea break, and one of them is Robin from Faith & Flour (she shares this recipe at 21:40 minutes through the video I've linked). Robin made this soup and I thought, wow, this looks simple, so I chose that as our first Instant Pot meal.

I did have to make my own Ranch Mix for the soup and used another of Robin's recipes to do so because that's another thing we don't use/have in Australia...but I had the individual ingredients in my cupboard so it didn't hold me back. I still can't get over how moist the chicken breast was, but I'd never used a pressure cooker before in my whole life so there may be many more surprises in store for me!

Earlier on Friday...

I hadn't seen Blossom for over a week due to the long wait for a result on my Covid test last Sunday 9th. In home isolation I got lots of odd jobs completed and introvert homemaker that I am, enjoyed the inability to travel, but when my result arrived via text late on Friday 14th as negative I quickly baked a Cinnamon Tea Cake and headed over to her place for some love, hugs and tea with her, Ross and the children. 

On the way home I dropped into the supermarket for a few supplies and found cheese, meat, yoghurt and many other items completely missing. Fortunately we had abundant pantry supplies at home, but I was overjoyed to see loads of fresh fruit and vegetables still available because that's what I wanted more than anything. 

Sunday breakfast...

I tend to have the same breakfast most days - fresh fruit and coconut yoghurt, soy decaf cappuccino, and a little bowl of our mega-vitamins. Hubby adds cereal to his breakfast.

We've been doing mega vitamin therapy for about five years now, and every day we take things which serve a purpose in our health and support our shared auto-immune disease. We choose good quality vitamins and supplements and have found them to be amazing for our overall health. 

4,000 mg Vitamin C; Zinc Picolate; Niacinamide; Vitamin E, Vitamin D3, Phosphatidylcholine; Tumeric; Hemp Seed Oil; Multivitamin; Magnesium...and Thyroxine medication for our Hashimoto's Disease.

At the start of a cold we increase the Vitamin C to 10,000 mg per day and it's usually gone the next day or within 48 hours. 

Sunday afternoon as I write this...

I've thrown out the old dry roses from my vases, and replaced the kitchen vase with my favourite variety, a beautiful scented pink bloom. 

Now we're about to clean up and head off to Blossom's for a visit. I have some of the Chicken Taco Soup to take with us, plus an old animated movie we used to love but have not seen in many years (I bought it last month off eBay) - The Iron Giant. Do you remember that one? I much prefer the old animated style to the new one...back when children knew it was a cartoon and not real. Nowadays the animations are far too lifelike and the themes far too adult for children. Just my opinion. 

Bless all of you as we embark on a new week. Like a new year, there's no mistakes in it yet, so chin up my dears and put a smile on your lovely faces. There's so much beauty in the world, and though at times we have to look hard to find it, the effort is worth the result. 

God bless you and keep you safe in His care always,

hugs

Sewing, baking, changing and a tutorial...

Having a week off from blogging was lovely, exactly what I needed because there were a few needful things to be achieved and time had suddenly been lacking to complete them.

It's wonderful to be able to say "I'm nearly caught up" and know that slower days now that the weather has finally cooled to a beautifully mild (and unusually wet) late autumn will keep me on track. I just seem to find my rhythm easier in the cooler months and a lot gets done without any hurry.

Not sweltering day in and day out certainly helps too as I wasn't born to a tropical climate but have had to adjust over the eleven years we've lived in this part of Australia.

I had a big list of things to accomplish when I logged out of the blog last Tuesday and one by one a line has been drawn through them (do you gain great satisfaction crossing things off your to-do list as well?). Some were small and a few required more time; some needed me to think and plan, others were naturally creative...but each gave me joy.

Shall I begin with the baking?

Bread has always been one of my baking delights. My husband could eat bread morning, noon and night, and I'm not far behind. But the actual process of choosing what loaf to bake and then following through each stage until you finally slice off a crusty end to peer inside and inhale delicious aromas can sometimes thrill me more than the eating! 

Last week I had plenty of garlic on hand so tried out a different type of garlic bread recipe, one where the raw garlic is kneaded in with the dough.

Turned out really nice, the texture was gorgeous, but next time I'll roast the garlic instead of using raw as that will add more flavour (even though I added twice as much garlic as the recipe suggested).

We ate this for days with soup, as bruschetta and finally toasted sandwiches.

Remember a couple of weeks ago we changed the living room around and made it cosier by exchanging the heavy charcoal recliner couch with our old blue one? You can see it behind the bread above.

Well, in between baking the garlic bread and trying the next new bread recipe another change was made. We sold the charcoal recliner couch and 'finally' bought ourselves recliner chairs instead. You see my sweet husband is 6' tall and I am just a wee touch over 5'1"...this has made our choice of couches over the years a bit of hit and miss. What is comfortable for him is not for me and vice versa.

Whilst cleaning out all our housekeeping files and receipts on Friday I came across a quote from five years ago that we were given when looking into purchasing separate recliner chairs suited to our individual sizes. It was out of our budget so we had to ditch the idea but I did keep the quote in hope of maybe one day.

That day was Saturday. We were at our local hardware store and it was so busy we needed to park a short walk away...right in front of the shop we got that quote from. There was a big SALE sign out front, 50% off that weekend only...so in we went, just out of curiosity. Twenty minutes later we walked out having purchased the exact recliners we had quotes for five years earlier...and even with some inflation since then we paid just 60% of the original price first quoted. There were only two in the shop, both in our 'size' and in a neutral grey that works so well with splashes of colour in our home. Had we wanted a different colour it would have been an 18-week wait and cost much, much more.

God really blessed us.

The blue couch is on the other side of the living room now and we listed the charcoal recliner couch next day and sold it within an hour. Again, we have been blessed. Mr E's neck and back appreciates the right size chair and my back and knees appreciate mine.

So back to bread...a fruit loaf this time. I baked this recipe from Paul Hollywood's "How To Bake" bread book, though I did the first knead in my breadmaker and not by hand...

My loaf had apricot, sultanas and cranberries. 

After the first proving in the breadmaker I remove the dough, knock it down, and fold it as per Paul's very basic instructions before placing in a bread tin for the second rise.

This was SO good...we've had it toasted with honey or cut straight from the loaf and buttered (vegan butter)...I think the rest would make beautiful French toast so that could well be breakfast tomorrow.

The only change I'd make to the recipe in future is to add a teaspoon of mixed spice to the dough, or perhaps some grated orange rind.

The only change I made to the recipe this time was switching golden syrup for treacle because we don't have any treacle. Molasses would work if you're in the US and want to try the recipe (just click on the recipe photo and it will come up larger, then save to your computer).

Whilst baking this bread I scrubbed my kitchen windows and sink - if I'm in the kitchen it's often an opportunity to cook and clean at the same time, especially when baking.

Two simple ingredients for the sink, bicarb soda and vinegar, work a treat, and for the windows just vinegar and water. From there I cleaned out under the sink again (that was one of my first Homemakers Heart challenges in February) because three months between particular area cleaning in a kitchen can be a long time.

While the dough was rising on my fruit loaf I baked a batch of rock cakes for hubby and we enjoyed a delicious and relaxed afternoon tea that day.

My work list for Elefantz when I began my week off blogging was quite long and I knew that if I was going to move forward and finish things I'd need to fit in a 'fun' project somewhere just for my own delight. Blossom and I often watch old episodes we've saved of the Great British Sewing Bee and I always say "I must make myself a wrist pincushion" but never do, so I decided my fun project would be just that!

I took a few photos along the way in case you wanted to make one as well. They are really very simple but so very useful.

You first need to make the round pincushion. I simply draw two circles that I've traced from a small bowl, one for the back, one for the front, and sew around them with a 1/4" seam, leaving a 2" opening for turning right side out.

Then I press a hem around the open edge, maintaining the curve of the circle, before filling with polyester stuffing and whip stitching the opening closed. Fill it rather firmly but not so much that you can't close the opening.

Using Perle thread or three strands of embroidery thread (I used Perle 12) criss-cross back and forth, always bringing the needle back to the centre, until you have eight sections in your circle. Pull the thread gently as you sew each section until it puffs a little.

Secure the thread in the centre of the bottom side when you're done.

I fussy cut the top of my pincushion using the last bit of fabric leftover from THIS recipe book (free pattern) and once the criss cross of thread was complete I added a button to the centre.

Now you'll need a piece of fabric for the cuff, plus a length of cotton lace (although you can omit the lace) and a tape measure to measure how big your wrist is.

Add 3" to your wrist measurement.

My wrist is 7" around so I cut my green pindot fabric 10" long x 3" wide.

Fold the fabric in half lengthways and sew the raw edges together with a 1/4" seam. Turn right side out and bring the seam to the middle instead of the side and press open.

Sew a 1/4" seam along ONE open end. Turn the wrist cuff right side out, fold in the open end by 1/4" and whip stitch the opening closed.

Lay a piece of cotton lace over the seam line of the cuff. The lace should be about 2 or three inches longer than the cuff. I just used the scrap piece I had on hand which was already longer.

Sew the lace in place along both side edges.

Cut yourself a 2" length of velcro (hook and loop)...

Fold the lace over the ends of the cuff.

Place the velcro at each end of the cuff, on opposite sides of the cuff - one on the lace side and one on the fabric side. Sew the velcro in place and at the same time you'll be securing the lace as well.

The ends of the lace and the velcro are both hidden when you're wearing the cuff.

Turn the pincushion over to the wrong side and lay the right side of the cuff (the lace side) over the base, centring the cuff with the centre of the pincushion.

Hand sew the cuff to the base. Don't pull the stitches tight, just enough that everything stays secure and there's no puckering. I used Perle #12 thread and small stitches.

It fits perfectly and I'm really happy that I got to make use of that beautiful fabric and the last length of a favoured piece of cotton lace.

These would make simple gifts if you're looking for pretty ideas to restock your gift box.

When I was taking photos of my new lace-cuffed wrist pincushion this morning I remembered another tutorial I shared back in 2017 for a Christmas tree pincushion made from three of those round tied pinnies...

If you feel like making one you'll find that tutorial HERE.

I gifted this to a very dear friend and always intended making another for myself...maybe I'll add that to next week's list of things to make and do?

There's a lot on my heart to share as I've been soaking in God's Word this past week and writing a lot of scripture in my journal, but that can wait till another day when my thoughts have fully formed and hopefully translate to words of encouragement...but if you need encouragement today, pop back to that old pincushion post because how I felt then is exactly how I still feel today.

(you'll find it HERE)

Bless your darling hearts and may the days ahead bloom brighter and add joy and hope to your thoughts and your prayers...

Loving hugs